CWP Wk 2

“How Much Policing Do We Really Need?”

Why have confrontations between the police and the common citizen become so lethal? Racism, poor training, or availability of firearms to civilians? Well it’s really none of these in the long run. Without profit and loss in the policing industry, the police cannot know if they are using their resources effectively. Since the people are not there to tell police what problems they need to be dealt with the most, bureaucrats and politicians step in and tell the police “what the people want or need.”

Economist Bruce Benson (Florida) found that when police focus on enforcing the abolition of drugs, they turn their attention away from defending the people and their property, and crime in those areas shoots up.

Turning again to the economic side of the equation, we can see that because the police are not using the free market system to get paid, they simply can’t tell which is greater; the value of their services, or the resources used up to

What about police immunity in court? Some people argue in favor that when cops are not held to the same laws as the rest of us, they will not hesitate to use the force they need to in order to properly perform their jobs. I think that this simply encourages police to use excessive force instead, making the problem even worse.

Since police do not use the free market system and therefore have no obligation to satisfy the consumer, we should not be surprised when they act in their or the state’s best interests instead of the people’s interests who it is their job to protect and serve.